The former home of Pu Yi, China’s last emperor, has been demolished because it
had become unsafe after recent floods, said officials in Beijing.

The Western-style home in an old Beijing Hutong was made up of two cloistered courtyards, in which Pu Yi lived from 1963 to his death in October 1967.

On Friday, it had been reduced to rubble, along with eight other homes in the area.

“[The house was] destroyed by the rainstorm and had safety problems,” said Sun Tiexiang, the vice director of the local housing management bureau to the Beijing News.

He added that the house was not listed for protection, nor officially recognised as one of the residences of Pu Yi after he was compelled to leave the Forbidden City. However, one of his colleagues promised that the home would be rebuilt “according to its original look”.

Chen Guangzhong, the former president of the China University of Political Science and Law, said he had made an application in 2009 for the house to be listed as an “immovable cultural relic”. He said he was still waiting for an answer.